“Chris Brown, You’re Famous, You Beat Me”

Commentary

By
Culture & Entertainment Editor

Chris Brown

Chris Brown

Chris Brown, an American singer, dancer, and actor in his 20s, whose name was attached to a famous domestic violence case in 2009, appeared on the celebrities’ stage again this Sunday. He performed at Grammy Awards for the first time since beating his then girlfriend singer Rihanna on the eve of the music industry's biggest night, which threatened to derail his musical career.

On August 25, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, one year of domestic violence counseling, and six months of community service; the judge retained a five-year restraining order on Brown, which requires him to remain 50 yards away from Rihanna, 10 yards at public events.

Brown won this year’s Grammy Award for the Best R&B for his album “F.A.M.E”.

Announcing Brown’s award news, there have been feedback and replies from American audience, mostly women, who declared that they do not mind to be beaten by Chris Brown since he looks “attractive” and famous to them.

The replies come to raise a debate about the culture of American teens who can accept such an action as long as it is from a celebrity.

There is another debate on Facebook between Muslims who described such a reaction as a double- standard. They argued that whenever a Muslim man is charged with a domestic violence case, the entire society makes it a big fuss, describing all Muslim men as barbarians.

Commenting on these replies of American women, Roxane Gay wrote on The Rumpus.net:

“I am sorry our culture has treated women so poorly for so long that suffering abuse to receive celebrity attention seems like a fair and reasonable trade. We have failed you, utterly.

We failed you when Chris Brown received a slap on the wrist for his crime and was subsequently allowed to perform at the 2012 Grammy’s not once but twice. We failed you when he was awarded R & B Album of the Year at that same ceremony. This is not to say he has no right to move on from his crime but he has demonstrated not one ounce of contrition. Instead, he has flagrantly reveled in his bad boy persona and taunted the public at every turn. He’s young and troubled but that’s an explanation for his behavior, not an excuse.

We failed you when Charlie Sheen was allowed and eagerly encouraged to continue to star in movies and have a hit television show that basically printed him money after he shot Kelly Preston “accidentally” and he hit a UCLA student in the head when she wouldn’t have sex with him and he threatened to kill his ex-wife Denise Richards and he held a knife to his ex-wife Brooke Mueller’s throat. We failed you when Roman Polanski received an Oscar even though he committed a crime so terrible he hasn’t been able to return to the United States for more than thirty years. We failed you when Sean Penn fought violently with Madonna and continued a successful, critically acclaimed career and also received an Oscar.

We fail you every single time a (famous) man treats a woman badly, without legal, professional, or personal consequence.

Over and over again we tell you it is acceptable for men—famous, infamous, or not at all famous—to abuse women. We look the other way. We make excuses. We reward these men for their bad behavior. We tell you that as a young woman, you have little value or place in this society. Clearly we have sent these messages with such alarming regularity and consistency we have encouraged you to willingly run toward something violent and terrible with your eyes and arms wide open

I am sorry.

I’m not shocked by your willingness to suffer for nothing in return without the right to consent. That may be the saddest thing of all.”

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